Today I did something I have not done in my 84 years! I stood at the Cenotaph in Whitehall as Big Ben struck the eleventh hour for the Service of Remembrance. In the past I have been at St. Peter's or at the War Memorial at Newbury Park, but this year I needed to do something I have often thought about.
I left home just after 8am to travel to Westminster. On the road below Big Ben huge concrete blocks stopped any possibility of a terrorist's vehicle driving into Whitehall. There were queues for the check points which were similar to those at airports - except that I did not have to take my trouser belt off (which was a relief for it was mighty cold). I had to be taken aside for I had some metal that I had not removed from my warm coat - the case in which I keep my bank cards.
I walked down Whitehall, finding a spot at the Cenotaph but behind a line of some ten people. At least I was near the back and had I fallen over I would have been near a barrier and the paramedics.
I have to apologise for the poor quality of the photographs. I am too short for this sort of caper. A man beside me had a collapsible stool on which he climbed with a mighty big telephoto lens. I was green with envy, but as my legs started to freeze up, no one noticed.
I arrived at my spot at 9.15am and left it at the end of the march past some three hours later. I am not complaining, Cedric, but I have to say that under pavement heating should be installed inn Whitehall post haste - if not sooner. From time to time I would bend my legs to make sure they were still attached to my body. When the police finally allowed us to move, I made for Trafalgar Square. It had been my intention to stay in London for Evensong, but I realised that I needed a hot shower and warm soup, so I caught the Number 9 (the Number 11 did not seem to be about today) to the Tower of London, thence on the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford and on to Ilford and Radio Cars and home.
Socks was pleased to see me. A day to remember and to cherish, for the sun shone and it was dry, but the cold started to get into my bones.
